The first administration of the CAT being conducted online for the first time...has been successful - Director IIM-B Pankaj Chandra

November 28, 2009

With the highest peak load of 241000 candidates in 10 days, CAT 2009 started out on a mixed note. There have been unconfirmed reports of delays in test starting, students being turned away from the venue for late arrival, and computers crashing on the one hand and successful completion of the tests by many on the other.

Held in 32 cities across 105 centers for entry into over 150 b-schools apart from the seven IIMs, this is the most sought after entrance test in Indian higher education.

We bring you snippets from the field and from various news agencies

PTI:
The first administration of Common Admission Test (CAT), being conducted online for the first time for admission to IIMS today, has been successful, Director IIM-B Pankaj Chandra said.

"The first administration (the first batch of students who appear for the exam) of CAT, being conducted online for the first time has been successful", he told PTI.

"In each centre there are 5-6 rooms where the CAT exam is being conducted. In a few rooms of some centres, there was virus attack on computers. However, students in such centres will be given an alternative for the test- either today or on some other day, and they will be intimated", Chandra said.

Indian Express:
It has certainly not been cancelled in any of the test centres," Soumitra Roy, Managing Director, India, Prometric, the agency conducting the test, said.

"As a result of isolated technical issues some candidates are being rescheduled and provided with a new appointment via email and SMS," Roy said.

He said that thousands of tests were successfully delivered in hundreds of test centres throughout the country. "To accommodate the maximum number of candidates, Prometric and IIMs delayed the start of the morning session by about half an hour," he said.

Students complained of glitches in certain centres in Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bhopal. However, IIM, Bangalore, Director Prof Pankaj Chandra claimed the first session of the examination was a "smooth affair".

My CAT 2009 Experience:
Rahul Chawla who attended the morning session on the first day at a centre in Bandra, Mumbai said that the whole process was smooth without any disruptions. "The only issue was the delay in starting the test since a few candidates came to the test centers late.  There were also delays due to the security procedure before the candidates sat for the test. Before we could begin the Computer based test we were asked for a password by the system which was not available with the test centre but was expected to be given by the IIMs. The issue was resolved eventually. But on the whole I found the process better than expected. The time delay was compensated for by the centres as students who started the tests late were provided with extra time".